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Brandon Jennings Sends Home a Warning From Europe

Perhaps white sails will one day appear on the horizon behind Brandon Jennings, a flotilla of high school basketball stars trailing him to Europe eager for a payday. But Jennings does not want anyone to get shipwrecked overseas just because he made the trip.

He issued that warning this week from Italy, where he is playing for Lottomatica Virtus Roma, a top professional team. He fears that top high school players may be seduced by visions of instant riches, fame and success in Spain, France, Italy, Greece or some other destination.

“I’ve gotten paid on time once this year,” Jennings said in an e-mail message. “They treat me like I’m a little kid. They don’t see me as a man. If you get on a good team, you might not play a lot. Some nights you’ll play a lot; some nights you won’t play at all. That’s just how it is.”

Jennings, a 6-foot-2 point guard who was regarded as the nation’s best high school player at his position a year ago, signed a $1.2 million deal in salary and endorsements to head to Europe in August instead of staying in the United States to play college basketball. Some analysts suggested that other elite players would follow the same path because of the rules requiring prospects to be a year removed from high school before becoming eligible for the N.B.A. draft.

Lottomatica Virtus Roma officials did not respond to requests for comment submitted through Francesca Mei, the team’s media director.

Jennings does not resemble the pioneer some envisioned when he left for Europe as a dynamic player who could create his own shots and score 20 points or more a game. In Italy, he said, he has been stifled offensively. He is averaging 8 points a game.

“My role is to play D and take open shots — that’s it,” he said. “And I’ve accepted that role.”

He acknowledged that the journey had helped him mature, and he said the rigors of playing in Europe may benefit others.

An N.B.A. assistant coach who has been to Europe and has watched Jennings play said his potential draft standing had not been harmed. The coach requested anonymity because he was discussing a player currently ineligible for the draft.

“I think it is good for him,” he said. “He was getting a defensive component that he needed. If I was a scout and I needed a point guard, I would be extremely impressed with what he has done over there.”

Photo

Brandon Jennings was regarded as the nations best high school guard a year ago but decided to play in Italy. Credit
Benvegnù-Guaitoli for The New York Times

Several of the top-rated players in the high school class of 2009 said they would not follow Jennings to Europe:

¶Derrick Favors, a 6-9 forward from South Atlanta High School in Georgia who is considered by some to be the nation’s top prospect, has announced he will sign with Georgia Tech this spring. “I’m definitely going to college,” he said.

¶DeMarcus Cousins, a 6-10 forward who plays for LeFlore Magnet High in Mobile, Ala., said he also would attend college. His father, Jessie Cousins, said the family had not had contact with European teams.

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¶Renardo Sidney, a 6-10 forward at Fairfax High in Los Angeles, intends to play in college, said Harvey Kitani, his coach.

¶Lance Stephenson, a 6-5 guard at Abraham Lincoln High in Brooklyn, wants to play in college, according to his coach, Dwayne Morton.

¶And Xavier Henry, a 6-6 guard at Putnam City High in Oklahoma, has announced he will attend Memphis.

Bob Gibbons, a North Carolina-based recruiting analyst, said all of those players would be considered N.B.A. draft prospects this year were it not for the league’s eligibility requirements. That does not mean they should rush to audition for European teams, he said.

“Myself, among others, thought there would be a revolution and players going to Europe,” Gibbons said. “I’m not so sure now after what I have been hearing with Jennings and all the cultural obstacles there are.”

Michael Reddick, who coaches Favors at South Atlanta, described Europe as “a man’s league.”

“There are a lot of things you have to consider to do something like that,” Reddick said. “I played over there 12 years, and it is not easy.”

Paul Hewitt, the Georgia Tech coach, said high school players needed to understand the cultural differences, including language barriers, and the challenges of being homesick and of having to manage daily affairs. If a high school star does skip college for the pros in Europe, Hewitt said, he should negotiate for the team to pay for college in case of an injury or lack of development.

Sonny Vaccaro, the former sneaker company executive who brokered Jennings’s deals with Lottomatica and the sponsor Under Armour, said he had been in contact with high school players and their parents who were interested in Europe.

But Vaccaro said there had been a change from last summer, when he worked on the deals for Jennings. Economic conditions in Europe are just as difficult as they are in the United States, and he said he underestimated the emotional strength a player needed to compete overseas.

“A less-driven kid would have come home,” Vaccaro said. “They practice twice a day, and the Europeans play everybody. It is not like one of these silly college games where the same seven guys play every minute of every game. When it’s over, the fact he was able to handle it is going to be more landmark than him just going over there.”

Pete Babcock, the former general manager of the Atlanta Hawks and the Denver Nuggets, said high school players in the United States had grown up watching college basketball. Their dreams are to play for those programs, he said, not in obscurity in Europe.

“There is not going to be a mass exodus,” said Babcock, now a scout for the Cleveland Cavaliers. “I don’t see it happening.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D3 of the New York edition with the headline: In Europe, a Former High School Star Sends Home a Warning. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe